A newly described species of giant pitcher plant is one of the biggest ever found, with leaves covered in fur the same colour as orangutans
By James Woodford
20 December 2024
The orange fur on the underside of Nepenthes pongoides leaves is why the pitcher plant was named after orangutans
Alviana Damit
A newly described species of pitcher plant, one of the largest and furriest ever found, has been identified on a wild mountain in Borneo, Malaysia.
The underside of the leaves of Nepenthes pongoides are covered in thick, rust-coloured fur, inspiring the team who found the plant in May 2023 to name it after the local Borneo orangutans who share the Meliau range in central Sabah.
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“Admittedly it’s not quite as hairy as an orangutan, it’s more like a really hairy-chested man,” says Alastair Robinson at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. “But the colour is almost the same as orangutan fur.”
He is proposing that the plants have the common name of orangutan pitcher plants. Robinson and his colleagues found just 39 plants over two expeditions, making it extremely vulnerable to extinction if it isn’t protected from poaching by collectors.
Robinson says even before they reached the site, there was evidence that poachers had been into the area and stolen specimens because plants had been posted online for sale.